Friday, April 22, 2016

E.C. Belli / 2015 Tomaž Šalamun Prize finalist

E.C. Belli

[2015 Tomaž Šalamun Prize finalist]

Apology

Another battering, brown
Grass. It’s hives, you see, not the sky
I want to talk about. Clean 
Sleep. Sundown is a musing 
Ruin, a tired gaze. Do you
Know it by any other name?
I am supremely content— 
Though I despise board games
And Sunday afternoons.
Put on a decent face, I’d like to say 
Some days. We’re all crushed 
With longing. Last week, 
I left the dog with someone 
Who almost let him die. It didn’t matter
To her—his trench-deep eyes,
Four sturdy legs, a trodden heart
Endless with hope; all the 
Little things that make you
You. One person in the world
Loved him, you see—made him
Less wretched, which is to say
Easier to maim without remorse. 
Love is always a good cause 

For injury.

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